How I Die In The Hunger Games
by Inkwood
Summary: Welcome to the 88th Annual ... Hunger Games! May the odds be ever in your favor! #howidieinthehungergames
1. 1

I wouldn't last 24 hours in the Gamemakers' Arena. As soon as that Cornucopia catches my eye, I would go against all my Mentor's teachings and run straight for the swag. I'd be good at dodging attacks, expertly disarming my foes, and slaying a few Tributes on my way to my prize: milk chocolate bars.

This is not to say that I would ignore all other consumables. If there are other foodstuffs available from the corny, I wouldn't be against thumbing out some eyeballs for say... some bacon... maybe even water. Although I could find water somewhere else, within the mazes of the Gamemakers' Arena. But I must admit, I would probably knee some groins if I saw some smartwater within my reach.

Electrolytes is life. Not my spearhead. Not my Katswiss Army Knife. Not my steel-toed boots that I just stole from a freckled 12-year-old. (Hindsight: those weren't freckles; that was probably blood-splatter...) And definitely not my orange backpack. I probably won't even get to open that aesthetically nauseating overrated piece of crap. Nope. My life will depend on nutrition. This is the freakin' Hunger Games, and I...will...not...go hungry!

So, life is the munchies. I have my chocolate bars. I'm on fire.

Alas, I will not last the night. #howidieinthehungergames


	2. 2

The Cornucopia was a winning scenario. I've got weapons. I've got food and drink. Oh! And I'm alive! Yep. I'm feeling victorious so far. Although... climbing over the meter-and-a-half high rock wall that circled the corny, and dashing towards the bamboo forest that surrounded it... I realized... I'm also feeling lonely.

My fellow Tribute is not with me. Oops. What happened to that chick? I must have lost her between the canned beans and the twinkies. Is she dead? I can't look back and check for her body; I'm already over the wall and cannot see.

Should I call out for her? I might give away my position. Why didn't we plan out callsigns? We could have -I don't know- practiced bird chirping noises or something. There's this birdsong I've always liked... What's the name of that blasted bird? I can't remember. Screw it. Anyway, our district is all about fish. She probably wouldn't even have known anything about birdsongs. She probably would've just laughed at my imitation of a bird and maybe called me funny names just to mock me. What the heck was that bird's name?! Never mind.

Too late now. I can't think of any noises that fish make; and any other noises would probably just go overlooked by her. I might as well just accept it, my fellow Tribute is lost to me. That's too bad. Because she was kinda cute...and I had already planned out a cool way to assassinate her...

It's all well and good. I would never see her again for the rest of my life anyway. I would be dead in a few hours. #howidieinthehungergames


	3. 3

I found myself in the bamboo forest. For the first time today, my life could slow down and I could ponder on the previous moments. Those first minutes of the Hunger Games had been vicious. The Cornucopia had been something else. So much ravage, so much barbarism, so much hunger. My Tribute uniform, my hands, my face...were all stained with the crisp flakes of dried-up sugar glaze. I should never have had those donut holes after breaking that poor Tribute's neck.

I'm going to be swarmed by Anteater Eater Ants tonight, I'm sure of it. I must make an effort to bathe before I sleep. Thinking of which, where will I rest for the night? Maybe I should sleep in mud. I just want to surround myself with water so that the ants won't get me. Maybe I can build a raft and float downriver all night. Now I need to find a river.

_Klack-klack!_ What was that?! I heard some footsteps on wood. I look down to see that there is broken bamboo strewn across the forest floor. I walk towards a dead branch and step on it. _KLACK!_ It breaks under my boot. And I immediately throw myself to the ground.

So that's what that sound was! Someone is nearby. But now they've also heard me too. _Klack!_ They've stepped on a bamboo again. And this time it sounded closer! I'm a little scared. The Cornucopia was one thing. The adrenaline was driving me then. This scenario is something completely different. Now, I am calm. Now, I can think. Now, I am aware of the coming murder.

I reach for my weapon. Inside one of my pockets, I find the Katswiss Army Knife. This thing is spectacular. Equipped with the most advanced technology, the Katswiss can start fires, check your temperature, shoot poison darts from a tiny bow, and cut cheese. I can use this to kill whoever is in the bamboo forest with me, for sure. I am ready. And then I feel something else in my pocket: the milk chocolate bar.

Do I wanna taste candy heaven before I die? #howidieinthehungergames


	4. 4

I save the chocolate for later of course. There will come a time, when the milk chocolate bar's destiny will be that it's meant to be eaten. The chocolate bar will be the Tribute to my Hunger Game. There is a time and a place for bliss. And this isn't it.

_Whoosh!_ An arrow flies past above me. _Klack!_ It spears itself into a bamboo tree behind me.

Who the heck is the smartass with the bow and arrow? I want to know their name and District before I puncture their throat with my cheese knife! _Whoosh!_ Another arrow. This one apparently hits no mark, because no immediate sound follows.

"Haha! I think you got him, Smartass!", a girl's voice calls out from behind some bamboo trees.

"Shut up, Turdface! I think there's another one...", replies Smartass from the same direction.

There's at least two of them. I'm screwed. I debate putting away my Katswiss Army Knife and just going back to the idea of eating the chocolate bar. I am likely to die now; I might as well go down chewing.

"Helll-", I hear a soft voice behind me.

Hell indeed. Now there are three others!

_KLACK!_ Ok, that bamboo broke very near me! And I see him: the dying boy with an arrow sticking out of his back. He is crawling on his own blood, towards me. Smartass did hit a mark. "Go away!", I signal to Mark with a silent wave of my hand. His body rustling across the forest floor will surely give away our location. I rise into a crouching position, and ready myself to run.

"Helllp", Mark speaks softly again. This time, he gurgles a little of his own blood. It's disgusting.

But it stops me from running. "You're dead!", I grumble under my breath at him. Mark doesn't care. "Help!", he insists. A little too loudly.

"There!", Turdface calls out. And I hear the other two standing Tributes begin to run across bamboo towards us.

"Okay, fine, I'll help you", I groan at Mark. Then I go to him, and stand up, picking him up and easily throwing him over my shoulder. "You can be my meat shield", I grin. But the poor bastard can't even see it, as I run away with him slung across my back.

_Klack! Klack! ! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!_ I run over broken bamboo, but I'm not faster than the arrows. The shots are still coming. _Whoosh! Whoosh!-Thud!_ ..._Groan._ Another arrow hits its Mark.

I hear the girl, Turdface, laughing and panting behind me. My meat shield becomes too heavy. Mark must be dead now. I stop suddenly in my tracks, and drop Mark as I dive to the forest floor and into a turn, to face my pursuer. Out of my quickly extended hand, flies my Katswiss Army Knife.

Turdface stops running and falls to her knees. The butt of the Katswiss protruding from her neck. Blood is spraying down her shirt. Sexy. She tries to curse at me, but all she does is make her throat's wound open wider. Blood splatters all over the bamboo. Red on green.

I debate whether to quickly retrieve my knife, or to just continue running, because I realize I have no idea where Smartass went! When was the last time he loosened an arrow? Why is he not shooting at me? Did I lose him? Or is he just taking his time lining me up for his next shot?

Forget the knife. I can come back and pick up the Katswiss from the dead Turdface later. I know that what just happened back there makes me a badass. But I don't like the odds against a foe whose location I cannot sense. Besides... I just urinated all over my trousers. Badass. I just wanna get out of there.

I decide to run. Live to fight another day. Or in my case, live to fight in the Hunger Games for a few more hours, and then just up and die. Sigh. #howidieinthehungergames


	5. 5

_Pant. Pant._ I run as fast as I can through the bamboo. My sides ache. Once again, I regret the donut holes. Or maybe this pain is the vanilla wafers I had after the donut holes...

_Klack! Klack! KLACK!_ Dammit! I can still hear that Smartass is still following me. He just won't let up. _Whoosh!_ How many arrows does this dude have?!

_BLAST!-BLAST!_ Gunshots? Great. Another Tribute. Did *everyone* run into this bamboo forest after the Cornucopia?! I mean, dayum!

I'm tasting dirt. I must've dropped to the ground without even thinking. I thank my instinctive reaction to flying bullets. Then I appreciate the silence that has come over the bamboo forest suddenly. I'm trying to hear where the other Tributes are. Nothing.

I don't know how much time has passed. But my leg is falling asleep. And there has been no noise, no sign of any other soul nearby... Then I see it! Red on green. It's a slight stain far away, almost indiscernible, but that's definitely blood on some bamboo over there. I begin (slowly, quietly) crawling my way towards it. My hand already reaching under my backpack for my spearhead that I had won from the Cornucopia before.

What I find is another fallen Tribute. No surprise there. This one is a small teenage girl. She's resting on the forest floor, upper shoulders leaning against a bamboo tree, and she's clutching a large wound on her side. It must be a fatal bullet-wound, judging by the position of her hands on her belly and the large amounts of blood that she's losing.

She's dying. And as I crawl ever so closer to her, she spots me too, and a pair of tear-filled eyes meet mine. I can't hold her dying gaze. ...Wow, there really is blood all over her. It's on her clothes, her blonde hair, her pale face. But I can still recognize that it's her. It's the girl from District 12.

"Primrose?"

#howidieinthehungergames


	6. 6

The truth is, I don't know this girl's name. I remember her from the Training Facility at the Capitol. She was very good at healing herbs and martial arts. And we shared a laugh once or twice at some Career's expense. But I don't remember much of anything else about her. Only that it struck me as curious that such a talented Tribute would come out of District 12.

But what was her name? No idea. I just figured, 'Primrose' was such a popular name to honor daughters with in District 12, about a decade or so ago... that I would give it a try.

"Ye...Yeah...", she responded.

Well, whaddaya know! Her name *is* Primrose. I held back a little laugh. The girl was dying in front of me after all. Instead, I made idle conversation, "How are you?"

Idiot.

Primrose smiled. Her teeth were smeared with blood. "F-Fine", she coughed blood. I think she had been trying to laugh.

"Um. Sorry. Relax", I try to calm her, as I sit up and edge closer to her, to help her. Then I suddenly stop myself. What if it's a trap?! There's way too much blood on her to be from the gunshot wound. What if she's faking it and she overdid it with all the blood? What if she's only *acting* like a dying person, and then kills me as soon as I get too close? She has already proven to be a formidable foe at the Training Facility. Heck, she could spring up at me from there and kill me right now!

"You're not going to kill me, are you?", I asked the dying Hunger Games Tribute.

She caught the stupidity of my question, because she answered, "I w-would...love to..."

And right after she said that, she depressed her hands from her wound... revealing a sickly puncture through the side of her belly, that pulsated and spewed dark bits of blood and gore.

She smiled her bloody teeth at me again, and returned to putting pressure on her wound with her trembling hands. "I'm already...", she grunted before finishing her sentence, "...dead."

A single tear rolled down her blood-stained cheek. And her dying eyes looked at me again. This time I held her gaze. I released the death-grip I had on my spearhead, and returned the weapon to the underside of my backpack. Then I moved up next to her, close enough to help her put pressure on her wound. "We were all already dead", I spoke to her gently, "the moment our names were drawn out of that reaping."

We sat in silence for a moment after that. Then, just when I thought maybe she had died, Primrose spoke again, "You don't...have to stay."

"I know", I replied, still holding on to her gut. I noticed then, that her hands had fallen to the ground beside her, and mine were the only ones still pressing onto her wound.

_GASP!_ Just then, Primrose's body lunged at me! She opened her vacant eyes wide... and started spasming! She placed her blood-soaked hands on the sides of my face and looked straight at me, while her body convulsed and her face writhed in pain.

I could feel her insides pouring out of her, through my hands, between my fingers; but I didn't take my eyes off hers.

"Primrose! Who shot you?", I asked of her.

"Ha-Has...all the...", Primrose struggled through her last gasps of breath, "...guns."

"Who?!", I insisted.

"Dis-District F...", Primrose tried to answer the question, but instead spat up large amounts of dark blood.

"How many are there?!", I tried desperately to question her again.

Her arms dropped, and she sagged lower to the ground. Only her head was resting against the bamboo now. She continued to look right at me.

"Te-Tell her...", Prim said between exhales, "Lo-love."

"What?!", I reacted, very confused. "Prim! ... PRIM!"

But she was already dead. Her eyes remained open, but lifeless. I had watched her eyes...die.

I released a breath of air that I hadn't noticed I had been holding, then I let her go, and plopped myself to a sitting position on the ground next to her body. In the distance, a bird took up a solemn call. A musical ode to the moment. What *in hell* was the name of that blasted bird?! Anyway...

A slight bit of movement in the sky caught my eye. At first I thought it was the bird. But it wasn't. It was a silver silk parachute, slowly dropping a gift to land onto the dead Primrose's lap.

Believe it or not, I was ready to discard it. It was just a box for disinfectant and antibiotics; and I felt sure that I already had a small supply of both inside the nauseating orange backpack. But something unusual about the Gift won my interest. Unlike any other Sponsor Gift known to me in the history of the Hunger Games... this one had a note attached to it. Curiosity won me over and I snatched the Gift from the dead Tribute. I quickly read the note, and became bewildered. Just a word and a number. ...My name, and my district. ... So, I quickly opened the box! And I saw its contents.

It was not disinfectants or antibiotics. #howidieinthehungergames


	7. 7

It was a gun.

I recognized it as an old Peacekeeper 7.13; with a one-time battery life, which allowed the gun to fire a small electric blast, usually no more than 2 times. These guns have been known to be used in the game Tribute Roulette: where each player selects a gun from a pile, fires it at the air twice, then points the barrel to their chest, pulling the trigger one last time. At this point, the gun should only have a minimal charge left; only enough to slightly electrocute a point-blank-range target, not unlike a stun gun. But sometimes, one last full blast is still left... Tribute Roulette.

This particular gun, showed its battery at full charge; so, good! It should have at least two full electric blasts available before it becomes a useless blunt object. What was odd though, was the rare symbol on the side of its rubber grip handle. It was a hoop, and within it: the image of a bird holding an arrow in its beak.

Whatever. Now I just wanna know who sent it. And why would any of Primrose's sponsors be sending her a gun with *my* name on it... And why are no Sponsors sending *me* anything?!

At that thought, something else moved in the sky. Another parachute. This one, landed on my lap. No box. No note. But it was clearly for me. It was a can full of antacid pills.

Funny.

I knew exactly who sent this, and I know he's watching at that very moment, so I send up a curse with my fingers in the air. Suck on that one, Mentor.

The bird has finished its song, and the bamboo forest has become quiet enough to become too eerie to stay next to a dead body for too long. I close Prim's eyelids (because I've seen it done in other Hunger Games onscreen before), then I stow my new gun against my belt and walk away.

Soon, I hear a new sound. The faint flows of running water. There must be a stream nearby! Yes! I instinctively run to find it. But where is the sound coming from? This way? That way? I don't get it. Every time I move toward it, the sound gets closer, and then I hear it louder behind me, farther away... This doesn't make sense! Is this thing moving around? Is it underneath me? How do I get below the earth to find an underground stream?

I lean against a bamboo tree. I'm tired. I think I've been going around in circles, trying to find this ever-elusive stream. I can still hear it! But where is it? And then I feel it. The bamboo... is vibrating!

I immediately press my ear against the bamboo. There it is! The stream is loud and clear. I switch over to another bamboo tree and press my ear against that one too. I hear it there again. The familiar sound of running water. It's inside the bamboo trees!

I take my spearhead in my hands and stab forcefully against a bamboo. _KUCK!_ The spearhead bounces away from the tree. The bamboo doesn't even get a scratch. What is this? Smartass' arrows broke through; why not my spearhead? There wasn't any water running through those bamboo before; but also it could be that I need more force... If only I still had my Katswiss Army Knife: that sucker has its own drill!

Turdface. I have to go back to Turdface, to retrieve my Katswiss... and possibly face the deadly Smartass again, and potentionally get murdered by an arrow. #howidieinthehungergames


	8. 8

Turdface was not easy to find. I lost more than a hour trying to backtrack to where her body lay. (Though I must admit, some of that was spent sitting down, snacking on beef jerky.) But soon enough, following the bloody trails (and the smell of dead bodies), I was able to reach the girl with my Katswiss Army Knife sticking out of her neck.

So far, no sign of Smartass. But that could be because the sound of the bamboo water is present around here too, so I just might not be able to hear him if the archer is around. Well, at least the good news is that I don't have to go all the way back to the other spot of bamboo to get the water. I can drill right here.

The Katswiss is lodged into Turdface's corpse real good. It takes a few tugs and twists to yank it out, but I finally pull it free. With the Katswiss in hand, and a proud smirk on my face, I walk away from Turdface's corpse... and the bamboo trees near her body come alive.

I can hear wooden gears turning, like spindles, inside the bamboo. And I see parts of the tops of the trees open up...and begin spraying water all over her dead body. A sprinkler system.

Except... I don't think it's water. Her corpse is not reacting well to it. Every drop that falls on her dead skin creates a sizzling sound and a tiny rivulet of rising smoke. In a matter of seconds, her body is surrounded by a light fog and all the air nearby is attacked by a sudden stench of burning meat. Acid rain.

Then the bamboo around me activates. Spindles and gears turn. I don't stick around for what follows. I do notice, as I run, that the sound of acid is still running through the bamboo ahead of me... and that I'm running faster than the bamboo trees can activate, so they sprinkle their acid rain behind me.

The Gamemakers don't want to kill me. If they did, they would have activated all the bamboo acid sprinklers at the same time. No. They're giving me a chance to run. They must want me out of the bamboo forest. I was not against satisfying them.

I run away as fast as I can. Oh, I will die soon; but not under an acid rainfall, amidst liquefied skin and melted chocolate. #howidieinthehungergames


	9. 9

The Gamemakers have a clear path that they want me to take; considering that a lot of bamboo acid sprinklers activate in front of me as I flee, yet there is always a safe way to go, that provides me with sharp turns and a general direction for me to run.

When I finally clear the bamboo forest, I'm not surprised that all the acid sprinklers are now activated behind me, barring me from waltzing on back in.

Ok, Gamemakers, I'm outta there. Now what?

Ahead of me is a great, deep, salt rock chasm. I can't even tell how far the fall is, because it's so dark and foggy down there. The opening is a good 30 meters wide, and the only way to cross it is by a small, wooden rope bridge. The fact that I ended up directly in front of the bridge further insists that I had been led there by the Gamemakers. And there's already another Tribute crossing the bridge.

Sly... devious... Gamemakers.

The Tribute is good at looking back to cover his tracks, so we spot each other right away. I instinctively reach for my gun and point it at him. The boy instinctively runs away towards the far side. He doesn't want to fight; he wants to cross. Maybe he doesn't have any weapons; maybe he knows that the electric blast from my Peacekeeper 7.13 cannot reach him at that distance. My bluff has lost, so I put the gun away. I climb onto the rickety bridge to chase after him. The boy pulls out a small hand-axe from his pack. He means to chop the bridge after he crosses it!

Things are happening too quickly. The Tribute is running hard towards the other end, and I cannot let him reach there alive. I don't think I can run fast enough across this weak rope bridge to get within distance of my gun's shot range in time. I think he will beat me to the end of the bridge before that. He's halfway there!

I have to think of something fast! I'm getting desperate. I toss my orange backpack over the side, abandoning its weight (along with its contents of food, medicine, and weapons), but at least this way nobody else will make use of any of it. I watch it fall into the chasm and down into the deep fog. ...I knew I would never open that nauseating thing.

And with that, I coil my foot around one of the bridge's ropes. I whip out my Katswiss Army Knife, and I press the extension trigger on the side. Like an extendable baton, the blade is now four times longer. Now a short-sword, I raise the Katswiss above my head and swing down hard on the ropes of the bridge. The ropes cut like cheese, and the bridge connection is no more.

As the useless structure of wooden planks and ropes tumbles across the chasm, I hold on tight to the side rope that I was able to ensnare myself to before cutting the bridge loose. The other Tribute, however, had not expected it at all. He falls a good few meters as what's left of the rope bridge swings towards the opposite cliff wall, before he manages to latch onto one of the wooden planks. So, he gets to live for now. But he was forced to release his axe in his desperate attempt to grab tight onto the rope bridge. The Tribute's weapon is now gone down into the chasm, to meet whatever end my orange backpack did. Also, he's now hurt, and dazed... and he's a lot closer to my gun.

The dangling rope bridge slams us painfully against the cliff wall. The Tribute boy falls down a couple of notches, but we both hold on. I put away my Katswiss and point my Peacekeeper at him.

The Tribute sees this, and he reacts by pulling his legs up to dangle in a sort of fetal position. His legs now provide him cover. Even his feet are crossed over, to protect his crotch area. This kid must have read The Ender Games (a children's bedtime story based on an old archived science-fiction book from a previous century.)

I hold my grasp on the bridge... and my aim. The kid will tire soon enough from holding his legs up like that. And I will be here pointing my gun at his ass when he does. I only hope I don't tire first!

And then, as if this situation wasn't exciting and dangerous enough, the Gamemakers add a little bit of their touch to the game. From out of the fog at the bottom of the chasm, rise thousands of silver-gleaming metal spikes, sharp enough to skewer us like lambs on kebab. (Ok, so now I'm hungry again.)

#howidieinthehungergames


	10. 10

The boy tires. And not a moment too soon! My hands had become sweaty, and my grip on the dangling bridge was slipping.

But when the other Tribute drops his legs, I still can't find a clear shot at him! He used his legs' momentum to begin swinging the bridge. With each swing, he would climb up a rung on the bridge/ladder, and the motion made it impossible for me to aim properly. And I guess the boy knew that aiming was of the utmost importance, with my limited number of shots. Smart little bugger!

Now, it seemed to me, it's merely a race to the top. I think I can take him; all I have to do is climb fast enough to get close to offset his swinging, and also be closer for a better aim. I think I can do that before he reaches the top; the boy looks weak, and he is hurt. I can be faster.

But, oh-oh! Also with each of his swings, I can see that the rope bridge is losing integrity (and its hold!) up at the top! I'm not quite sure if the kid has realized this yet, but either way, he's going for it! And now I'm not just racing him, I'm racing the collapse of the bridge as well!

I begin my ardous climb, pulling myself up rung by rung, forcing my pained and tired body to ascend at a great speed. It pays off. I am indeed faster than that annoying little Tribute boy. So when I'm finally close enough to shoot him, I do not hesitate. The kid is almost at the top!

I aim my Peacekeeper and squeeze the trigger. _BLAST!_ A ball of electricity shoots towards the Tribute boy and blasts him on his rear, right as he was trying to grab a hold of the top of the cliff. He never makes it. He falls, electrocuted, down the collapsed bridge. Ha! Got his ass!

But the brunt of the blast was apparently not enough to kill him. That sucks. The Tribute boy manages to catch himself back onto the ropes of the bridge, a few rungs above me. He is still muddled and trembling from the electrocution, bleeding from his ears and mouth, and barely conscious.

I put my gun back on my belt, and I begin climbing my way up, to go beyond the Tribute boy and to the top; perfectly fine with simply leaving him there to die... but he decides to  
grab me as I'm climbing past him! The Tribute boy stops my ascent and starts kicking me. I'm surprised by his desperate strength, and I almost lose my hold on the rope bridge as he strikes me.

I fight back. I kick him hard, everywhere. Our fight swings the ropes, and our legs become entangled in a desperate kicking frenzy. I feel that the effort of the fight is making me lose my grip on the bridge's ropes. This is not good. This kid needs to die.

The Tribute boy uses a free hand to make a wild attempt at lunging for the gun at my belt. I dodge him easily (the kid's still pretty dazed), but that's a danger that's too close for comfort. I need to end this.

So I reach from whatever reserve of energy I have left, to pull myself up, raise my knees, and jump at the boy! The knees hit him first, smack on his face and head, knocking him out and dislodging him from the rope bridge. But I'm too worried about the moments that I was free-falling on air, and too focused on the mere precious seconds I have to clasp any of the bridge's ropes again!

Victory! I do not die like this today. I am successful in clinging on to the beautiful ropes again to save my life; and I steal a glance at the Tribute boy falling to his death. He doesn't even scream. He must be unconscious. Lucky bastard. His body lands on the metal spikes below, and is slashed into skewered pieces of blood and gore. Surely, somewhere, the Gamemaker that designed that particular trap is celebrating.

I'm exhausted... but I make my way up to climb the rest of the dangling rope bridge all the way to the top of the cliff. I just hope no one is up there waiting to kill me. #howidieinthehungergames


End file.
